Peter Gutmanns Cost Analysis of Microsoft Vista only scratches the surface of the whole problem of content capture and handling. A key problematic piece in this whole puzzle is a technology called DirectShow. Microsoft contracted Geraint Davies several years ago to create a component based media streaming system. It is really well designed, it has its kinks, but works sufficiently reliable. However it aged and seems to be abandoned now. Microsoft also disguised its existence with shuffling it around various times with a recent move out of DirectX into the Platform SDK. The developer library apparently also doesn't work with Visual Studio 2005 unless you are a black belt C/C++ programmer patching your way through the headers.

It seems strange to hide a good piece of software from the user and the developer one would think. But if you know the inner workings of it you realize it is not random nor is DirectShow a forgotten gem which needs to be rediscovered.

With DirectShow you can extend the pipeline with filters as you like. Projects like ffdshow demonstrate how you can actually use an excellent open source codec easily within the otherwise proprietary DirectShow pipeline. Another major problem is that you are able to intercept running pipelines with a tool called GraphEdit. This allows you to hook into a running pipeline (taking granted it will be announced in the so called ROT - but you can force it actually) and add filters and tee in order to see whats going on there.

So why I bring this up - it allows you to actually get raw access your preciouuuusss (sorry I couldn't resist) "premium" content you most probably paid with your first born and your own soul. DirectShow can't handle DRM and therefore publisher aren't really keen on it and desparetely waiting for Vista.

A glimpse in the documentation for the successor Windows Media Foundation reveals that it will solve all of these problems for Microsoftyou and you will never be bothered with the choice of having another copy or able to otherwise reuse your content.

A second glimpse, more deeply makes you aware that Microsoft doesn't want you to know how it works and how you can create components for it. And they also provide you a nice explanation (my comments in bold):

• The pipeline in DirectShow tends to be static. Implementing dynamic graphs and major format changes is a complex task.Half Bogus: nice try, this only is true for the current state of DirectShow - if anybody would have spent a bit of time on it also could do dynamic graphs
• The threading model for DirectShow filters is complex and requires a thorough understanding to implement correctly.Bogus: kids don't play with DirectShow - only grown up educated people who are willing to read a documentation
• Filters cannot be used easily outside of a DirectShow graph, which ties them to the DirectShow pipeline. Utter bogus: Who expects a DirectShow component to be used outside of the filtergraph? Do you fly with your bicycle?
• DirectShow does not readily support protected content.The only and real issue

Slightly lower in the list we have a better overview (from here with comments):